Shield & the Sword
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Naru and Sarutobi have been inseperable since Naru's birth. Due to the demon sealed within Naru it simply wasn't safe to leave the child alone. Years later, Naru has been held back from the village populace, trained, and now carries out work that normal people can never do. fem naru. not sure if there will be a pairing but i'm open to suggestions
1. Chapter 1

"_Ahhh!_ Sarutobi-jiji, my eyes are burning." Exclaimed the petite little eleven year old as she flopped down on the roof of the building where he worked/lived. Sarutobi glanced over at her from where he stood, his lips curving up a little bit at her childish antics while she rubbed her eyes with the back of her small hands and made an irritated sound.

"Well, I'm sorry you're eyes are burning Naru-" He said as he thought, _Especially since it's my fault. _Her job of protecting the village and carrying out assassinations had been especially brutal on her of late. Wearing the poor child to a frazzle and then some. "But that's only because you've been working so hard. I'll stay up late tonight finishing the paper work that's piled up so that you can rest and get a full nights sleep for once."

Naru perked up instantly and removed her hands from her eyes to give him a calculating look before saying, "Alright, but if I'm bothered or woken up there's going to be hell to pay."

"Language, young lady." Sarutobi growled as he nudged her with his foot.

Naru made another irritated sound and grabbed his ankle and gave a not so gentle pull- trying to throw him off balance so that she could initiate another bout of Taijutsu training. Sarutobi cackled evilly and quickly pulled himself free of her grasp and poked her in the chest the second she got up and said sternly,

"_Oh_, I don't think so, young lady. I'm not training you anymore today. Not when you're practically exhausted."

The blonde shrugged her slender shoulders and muttered. "Whatever." Then fell silent as she looked away. There was a heartbeat or so of silence between them. Just like there always was as the elder sighed and put his hand on top of her shoulder length blonde hair and said,

"So...PB&J sandwhiches sound okay for a quick dinner?"

Naru tilted her head back and looked up at him and gave him one of her rare smiles and chirped. "Okay." As she took hold of his hand as he removed it from the top of her head and turned around and let him lead her towards the closed door thirty feet away. He needed to feed her, get her in the bath and get ready for the wrestling match that she affectionately called, 'story time'.

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1 yr later-

Sarutobi sighed as he peered into his crystal ball. Trying to locate his wayward partner, Naru, before any harm or trouble could find her and made a disgruntled sound when he finally found her loitering outside of the school..._again_.

_Well this isn't going to be good for my heart. _He thought as one of the academy teachers- Iruka Umino- had noticed her outside on one of the swings and got an agrieved look on his face, as if to ask the heavens above; '_Kami, why me?'_ and set his text and chalk aside and told the kids in the classroom that he would be back in a moment. There seemed to be a stray child outside on the playground in desperate need of educating.

It was at this point that Sarutobi let the images fade to nothing and returned his crystal ball to it's original state and leaned back in his chair and ran his hands over his face.

Poor Naru had become a tad bit obsessed with the school and everyone in it of late.

Not that that hadn't been expected at some point it was just that he had no idea how to handle her obssession. But he suppossed that after twelve years of living a sheltered life away from the world, that this was simply her small way of trying to reconnect with what she had been kept from.

It wasn't like anyone could hurt her anyways. She had too much of the demon in her to be truly hurt by something or someone.

Still he worried about her. She may hold one of the most evil creatures within her small fragile little body, but that in no way meant that she _understood_ or _knew _the meaning of true evil.


	2. Chapter 2

Iruka hit the door leading outside with more force than necessary. Causing the steel double doors to swing wide open before him as he stepped outside grumbling under his breath about kids and skipping their classes. He'd noticed the truent kid for a while now yet had never approached her due to the fact that he figured that her teacher would put a stop to her skipping classes.

However everyday was the same... Nothing happened. Not a goddamn thing.

No one spoke to the child.

No teachers from any of the other classes came for her-

And the more he took notice of her wandering the school grounds during school hours, the more _irked_ he became as an educator. So that was it. Today he would drag her to her class and give her teacher a tongue lashing that he/she wasn't likely to forget anytime soon.

Maybe then someone would take responsibility and stop the child from doing as she pleased and distracting him from his teaching! He thought in irritation as he stomped across the grass to where the girl was before pausing a few feet away from her and looking her over.

Just to make sure that she wasn't one of his. Kami knew that would be embarrassing.

She was a pretty little thing. Small. Dainty. Almost doll like in appearance with her soft tan skin and mid back length blonde hair. She was wearing a black and white striped long sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans. Her little feet were bare which was strange given the fact that there was sharp rocks, splintered wood and metal littering the playground where the kids often put what they had recently learned to good use.

"How long are you planning to stand there sensei?" The girl asked without lifting her head. Her voice startling him from his thoughts. To be honest he was surprised that she had noticed him since he had more or less been hiding his presence by supressing his chakra since reaching the playground. He had wanted to sneak up on her and give her a nice good scare.

But now it looked like that plan was shot straight to hell.

"What are you doing out of class?" Iruka demanded in his most pissed off tone. Hoping to strike fear into her heart like he did with all of his misbehaving students.

The girl was quiet for a moment, almost as if she were trying to think of what to say before she spoke again. "Observing." That was it. She said nothing else. There was no teary apology. No lies about being a good girl from now on. It was as if she had dismissed his temperment altogether.

Iruka growled and reached for her only to stop when she turned her head and looked at him over the top of one shoulder. She had the prettiest teal colored eyes. That is until they flashed scarlet. Her pupil's becoming slits as she stared at him for a moment before going back to the teal color. After which she disappeared in a puff of smoke, scaring him witless.

_How the hell did a mere child know how to use a chunin level jutsu?_

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Naru reappeared in a puff of smoke in a deserted alley half a mile from the school and stuffed her hands in her pants pockets and hung her head a little bit. Feeling somewhat defeated by her inability to interact with other people aside from Sarutobi. _I don't think that went well..._ She thought dismally as she started walking, not really caring where she was going as long as it was far away from the school.

It was probably in her best interest to stay away from there for a while. Though it would hurt her to stay away for too long. She really wanted to interact with others well. Maybe make friends and forget for a little while that she wasn't a normal person.


	3. Chapter 3

Several hours later-

Sarutobi had returned to the mountain of papers sitting on his desk, determined to get his job done as quickly as possible since he knew Naru would be coming home soon. Depressed..._again_. Not that he could blame her any. No, the fault could be set firmly on _his_ shoulders. He had kept Naru away from the villagers since the first attempt on her life as an infant, and because of that- she was lonely.

Sure he could try to distract her. Even give her a purpose. He could laugh and cry and tell jokes to her that made her smile. But in the end, her gaze would stray beyond his shoulder until she was looking at the village.

The shops.

The shinobi.

The children- Could all bring out these stingy secret smiles that she held back from him. It was maddening really. After all, it wasn't like he wasn't trying. It was just hard to raise someone with so few worldly desires.

But he supposed that he had the demon to thank for that.

Since the beginning Naru hadn't lacked knowledge. The demon had taught her young mind everything she needed to survive as a demon container, then let him teach her what he could about surviving among humans. It had helped him train her to use her powerful chakra to do such amazing things. He sighed and stamped something without looking at it as his eyes wandered from the papers in front of him to the clock on the wall.

It had now offically been almost three hours since Naru had been at the school.

He glanced to the door of his office with a somewhat worried expression and was just barely able to mask it as his door opened a little bit and Naru peeked in as he spazzed out and grabbed an ink pen and started doodling something on the paper he'd stamped just a few seconds ago just to make himself look busy. "Ah, Naru, welcome back. Did you have fun walking around the village today?" Sarutobi asked without looking up as the door opened a little wider to allow Naru to slip in.

Once she was in, Naru shut the door quietly and seemed to hesitate in answering him. Causing him to lift his head to look at her before blanching a sickly grey color and jumping up out of his chair and rushing around his desk to get to her while she stood swaying on her feet, her eyes glazed and unfocused under the crimson that ran down her face from her head- staining her shirt.

"Naru! Naru speak to me! What happened?" Sarutobi asked as he gripped one of her slender shoulders with one hand while slipping his free arm around her waist as her legs buckled. Picking her up Sarutobi moved over to his office lounge chair where he laid her down on it and quickly stuffed one of the colorful cushions on it, under her head as she started to fade in and out of consciousness.

Using the hem of one sleeve, he carefully wiped some of the blood her face before shifting his gaze to the reddish coppery spot on her head. Her eyes slid closed again as he reached for the spot to see what kind of wound it was. Running his fingers through her silken hair, he found the wound and seperated her hair enough to lean down and get a closer look at how bad it was only to wish he hadn't.

The wound was from an ax, the long deep gnash in her skull had fractured the bone just under the opening's skin and sank deep into the soft tissue of the brain. Sarutobi felt his stomach lurch as it registered with him that this was a fatal wound, and was just barely able to turn his head before he puked all over his nice clean floor.

_My kami!_ How could Naru have recieved such a wound? He had been so careful to make sure that the villagers thought she had run away when she had gotten older. So then why did his partner have little pieces of her brain leaking out of her wound and onto his lounge chair?

But more importantly- Who was responsible? And would the Kyubbi save her?

(************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Iruka was walking home from work when he came across a small gathering of people standing together around a crying woman and child. He paused for a moment to ask what was going on as the shaking woman gathered up the child and nearly shrieked, "What were you thinking?" At a man standing in the front of the small crowd.

Iruka frowned as the man hissed. "Be silent, woman-"

"No I will not be silent! Demon traps are against the law!" The woman shrieked, "You could have killed Miki!" As someone walked out of the alley behind the woman holding an bloody ax in their hands.

"Well, there's no body in the alley way- But someone was obviously hit by this ax." A guy said as he ran his fingers along the scarlet stain on the otherwise clean blade, his fingers coming away just as red as the blade was.

Iruka got an odd churning sensation in his stomach as someone said, "I saw a little blonde girl, about twelve years old walk through the alley around the same time the trap went off-" The churning sensation changed to feeling like lead was in his chest and stomach, and he doubled over and rested his hands on his knees and tried to breathe.

_It isn't the little girl from earlier... It isn't the little girl from earlier... _He chanted silently to himself before gathering himself together enough to straighten his spine and finally speak over the crowd. "Excuse me, but may I look at that demon trap before it's dismantled?" Everyone went quiet as the crowd parted a bit for him and with grim determination he walked forward into the alley.


	4. Chapter 4

The trip to the hospital was one of the most harrowing experiences of Sarutobi's life. And that was saying quite a bit for someone who had been trained by the First and Second Hokages. But it was the honest to god's truth. He had so many things running through his mind that he was only mildly surprised that he hadn't forgotten Naru back at his office.

And then on top of that his paranoia kicked in. Not that he could be blamed for that either, he figured it was just his minds way of reminding him that he had lied to the village and would need a cover story for Naru being in the village. The people already looked upon her suspiciously when she was out and about alone.

Was that what had led to her being wounded in such a way? He wondered. Someone had figured out that she was the child that he'd been harboring and had tried to kill her? The thought gave him mixed feelings.

Was it normal to feel sick to your stomach while shaking with rage?

Stopping just outside the hospital door, he looked down at Naru's face. This is where he would need a plan. Deciding that smaller was better he used some of his chakra to lengthen and give her hair a touch of her mother's coloing since he knew a feudal lord with five daughters, one of which had been traveling under the guise of a commoner that would be about Naru's age and have her new hair coloring.

He could contact the lord a little bit later and pull some strings to get him to lie.

So now he had his cover story for Naru.

And if she died... He would tell his people that it was their own fault they had brought a new war down upon their heads and slaughter those he found under the shadows of night.

Naru looked more and more sickly by the moment and though he would have liked to hold onto her just a bit longer just in case the worst happened, he couldn't afford too. So moving quickly he stepped through the glass doors of the hospital and took a deep breath and let his hysteria take over and screamed. Finally able to vocalize his sorrow and grief.

Bringing the doctors and nurses from various parts of the building straight to him.

He felt numb as they pried Naru's near lifeless body from his grasp, and the second they had her- His hands started shaking and his vision blurred with unshed tears. He felt someone grasp his upper arm and try to move him from where he was standing, but he refused to budge. Using his chakra to keep him in place as he watched the doctors and nurses take Naru back into the ER.

Once they were all behind the swinging blood red doors, Sarutobi felt his knees go weak and he started to fall. He simply had no strength left for the moment. Either that of he had used too much of it trying to get Naru to the hospital before she died.

He felt the hand grasping his arm being joined by another and heard voices calling from far away. "Hokage-sama!"

"Are you hurt, Hokage-sama?"

"Hokage-sama? Hokage-sama?"

Blocking out the panicked voices of doctors and nurses as well as a few shinobi that had been happening to pass by and come to see what was wrong, Sarutobi tried to control the anger/hysteria welling up within him. Lashing out now would do nothing to help Naru's current situation. After all going on a murderous rampage would do nothing but kill the child that much faster.

He was so out of it that he didn't feel himself being dragged over to a gurney and pulled up onto it and pushed back until he was laying down, his whole body was shaking now. It was shaking so violently that his teeth were almost chattering as an oxygen mask was placed over his face.

His vision faded in and out for a moment and he wasn't sure but he could have sworn someone said, "This isn't good. He's going into shock! Take him to the other ER- _And someone call his son! Quick!_"


	5. Chapter 5

_Naru was floating on a sea of red as dark as blood. And quick on it's heels was the feeling of severe pain as she drifted. Her ears picking up the distant sounds of people speaking in loud panicked tones. _

_What happened? She wondered as she felt a new wave of pain engulf her. It felt like someone was digging into her head! _

**_Keep your eyes closed and sleep Naru- _**_Said a loud rumbling voice. Naru felt herself frown but didn't argue as the loud rumbling voice started to sing to her in a different language. The sound soothing her as she drifted. _

(****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Sarutobi couldn't remember losing consciousness.

But apparently he had- After being strapped down in the ER and given a seditive to calm him before he went into cardiac arrest. He lay in his bed with the sheets drawn up to his chin. His mind was hazy as he gave the white walled room a cursory glance as he tried to figure out what had happened.

All he could recall was screaming.

Not the reason why there had been screaming or whom had been screaming. Just the sound of someone screaming in agony followed by the pin prick of a needle. And then nothing but silence. Blinking his burning eyes, he turned his head slightly to the left. Fully expecting Naru to be slumped over in the seat there, her eyes closed, her breathing shallow, slow and even in sleep.

However instead of seeing his partner, he saw his son Asuma.

His eyes started to close when he saw his son lift his head and look at him for a moment before jumping up out of his chair with a muffled shout, "Dad!"

Moving over to Sarutobi's bed and placed a hand against one of his shoulders, jolting the elder wide awake for the moment. Blinking his dark eyes, he stared at his son as he leaned over him and touched his forehead to his own and made a choking sound in the back of his throat.

"Dad, talk to me. Tell me what happened." He said in a soft tone, trying to fully coax Sarutobi to consciousness so that he would reply.

Sarutobi blinked his eyes and reached up to absently pat one of his son's shoulders. It was what passed for affection between two people who were as different from night as day. Unlike what passed for affection between Sarutobi and Naru- it was brief.

But then Naru was a child starving for affection and acceptance. Natrually what passed for affection between them would be different. Naru would never be satisfied by a mere pat. Stubborn child that she was- she was never really satisfied by anything.

It was why she worked so hard, bled so much, and cried so hard.

Speaking of...

Sarutobi pushed Asuma away a little bit while maintaining a firm grip on his shirt sleeve and looked to the other side of his bed and frowned. Where was Naru? Usually it took nine Anbu to subdue her if he was feeling ill or was bedridden- so then why wasn't he seeing his Anbu getting thrown around right now?

And where the devil was Naru?

"Naru?" He rasped as he turned his head to look at his son again. Asuma blinked at him but said nothing until Sarutobi narrowed his eyes and asked again. "Where is Naru?"

Asuma glanced around the room as if expecting the girl to appear magically out of thin air before saying, "Hn? Well I knew something was missing-" Causing Sarutobi to growl low in the back of his throat as Asuma snapped his fingers and said in a rush, "Stay in bed and rest a bit more and I'll track the tyke down. If she's here then I'll find her."


	6. Chapter 6

Yo- I'm not sure if this will be a long chapter, but I'll try. I've been distracted by the sudden death of a friend, who died the other day. And the news that my dad's heart problems are genetic defects.

My mom is freaking out everytime I turn around and even threatened to run over my eleven year old cousin Amy for smarting off to her the other day. It was fantastic. I mean I was scared she'd actually do it but- Everyone in the neighborhood could hear my mom screaming at her.

So needless to say, it's starting to look a lot like Christmas...

Merry Christmas everyone!

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Asuma had been gone from his father's room for a little over an hour looking for Naru. He checked everywhere that he could think of where the girl might be. The vending machines. The cafeteria. The waiting room with all the books. The gift shop.

The kid was simply no place to be found, which was beyond disconcerting to him since his father would likely give himself a heart attack just trying to get up out of bed to go find her.

Luckily for him though, a certain silver haired shinobi had heard that the Hokage had collapsed and had come to the hospital to keep Naru company like he usually did.

Unfortunately he hadn't seen hide nor hair of her. So he had sat himself down in one of the waiting rooms that littered the halls of the hospital in certain areas, and had been watching Asuma run back and forth looking for the girl with an expression of what could only be called, irritation.

Why was his favorite person in the village suddenly so hard to be found? He wondered curiously as he mentally went over the details of what he knew so far.

He knew that having the Hokage collapse like he had must have scared her. Just like the time he'd suffered food poisioning had scared her.

Asuma ran back by whistling and hollering, "Naru! Here girl!" Causing the man's eye to twitch a little bit as he slowly got to his feet and went to help the frantic Sarutobi find Naru before she heard him calling her like a dog and blew a _major_ fuse.

He waited until Asuma had rounded the corner before moving out into the open and walking up to the nearest nurse's desk and asking if the Hokage had had a little girl with him when he had been admitted. The nurse behind the desk had paused her work for a moment and looked up at him and told him that the Hokage hadn't collapsed until after they had taken the child he'd brought in with him back to the ER.

Silver brows furrowed in a frown before the shinobi had asked, "Was she hurt?"

The nurse checked her computer and nodded then told him everything listed on her screen about the head wound and the surgery she was in at the moment, and checked her computer again before telling him that she should be out of surgery in an hour or so and placed in a recovery room. The man had nodded his head even as he gritted his teeth and tried to hold back the anger smoldering inside of him.

So that was why the Hokage had collapsed. His little friend had gotten hurt.

Thanking the nurse as politely as he could given the circumstances, he then moved away from her desk and wandered down the halls to the room where Naru was being operated on and peeked inside the little window in the door. And felt his heart constrict in his chest at the sight of so many doctors and nurses trying to piece together the child's skull again.

Bracing one arm on the door above the window he rested his forehead against the cool wood and muttered, "C'mon kid. C'mon. You were never a quitter so don't you dare quit now."

As if sensing his presence or hearing his softly spoken words, Naru's eyes fluttered open for a moment and she turned her head just a fraction of an inch and looked right at him- making his heart leap up into his throat before they fluttered closed again and he pushed away from the door.

And decided to go back to the waiting room to see how things played out. Feeling that she had conveyed her message to him quite well.

She wasn't quitting.


	7. Chapter 7

Yo kittens! I hope everyone had a happy holiday and a wonderful new year.

Sorry I didn't have this up a day or so ago but I was in the hospital. I'm back home now on bed rest (sorta) and figured that as long as I didn't run any marathons everything would be fine.

So here is the latest chapter of **_Shield and Sword_**.

It's short, but I'm tiring myself out. I'll do better in another few days, okay.

(***************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Iruka collected several things from the scene as several more shinobi made their way over to help out with the crowd. There was even a medic nin looking at the child that had almost been hurt- just to be sure that he hadn't walked into the alley. While the man responsible for rigging the demon trap, was arrested by an Anbu that happened to be passing by.

Once he was done with his business, he handed everything over to the Anbu and started to walk by the man who had set the trap when it occurred to him that the child that had been wounded could have been a student of his.

She was someone's daughter. Someone's confidante and friend. She was probably alone right now.

Crying and scared. Possibly even dying...

It was too much for the normally mild mannered teacher to take as he stepped up to the man, looking for any hints of remorse and finding none. What did he care if some strange child die? It meant nothing to him. _She_ meant nothing to him.

Which was why Iruka lifted his arm and reared back and punched the man as hard as he could knowing that he could never give the man the same amount of pain and suffering the child was currently going through. _If she's still alive- _Slithered through his mind as the sicking crack of flesh striking flesh registered a moment before his hand started to ache terribly.

Almost like he had broken a bone or two when he had hit the guy.

_Great. Now I have to go to the hosptial for a broken hand... _Iruka thought in irritation as he turned and started walking. Maybe while he was there he could ask and see if anyone sustaining an ax wound had been brought in. If nothing else it would give him the name of the girl he was so worried about.

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Kakashi was on his way back to the waiting room when a scent caught his attention. It was a scent that he knew well as a shinobi. The smell of blood coming from a cart sitting in the hall way just a little ways ahead of him. But this wasn't just any blood. He knew this blood from memory.

It was Naru's blood.

And as he drew closer, he noted some ruined clothing sitting in the cart and reached down and pulled out a stained shirt and pair of childs pants and buried his nose in them. The honey sweet scent filling his nostrils as he inhaled just to make sure he had the right scent.

All it took was that one sniff for him to know that he had it right and with a sigh he carefully folded the articles of clothing and tucked them under one of his arms as Asuma made another pass through the area. His mind so occupied with finding Naru that he didn't even register Kakashi as a blip on his internal radar.

Shrugging his broad shoulders, Kakashi figured the poor guy had enough to worry about. Which left him free whimsically change his plans to go back to the waiting room and instead go see if he could find the Hokage. He wanted to know the nature of the head wound that Naru had suffered.

_Before_ he lost his temper. And he was taking her bloody clothes with him.


	8. Chapter 8

Kakashi had been sitting in the waiting room for the past hour with Naru's folded, ruined clothing in his lap when he heard the distinct sound of footsteps on the tile floor. Looking up, he saw a brunette with a scar across the bridge of his nose being led down the hallway by a nurse. He was holding one hand, the fingers twisted and disjointed and bleeding.

Finding the site of the man interesting he subtly lowered his mask a bit and sniffed at the air. Filtering out the scents of antiseptic, blood and other things until he could smell the earth and rain on the man. Apparently this new person was someone who liked the elements- but that wasn't all he could smell on him.

For some reason that the Copy nin couldn't fathom, he could smell Naru on the man.

The scent was subtle of course but unmistakable to him. There was no one else in the village that smelled like the girl did. Like waterfalls and flowers with a slight hint of smoke.

Putting his mask back in place, Kakashi stood up and found himself walking across the room and peeking around the corner of the door the see where the man was being taken. Just in case he decided that the man needed to be questioned about Naru's injuries. After all if he carried her scent then he had come into contact with her one way or another, he reasoned as he straightened his spine.

(************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Iruka was frustrated with the lack of information he'd been given over the course of the past thirty minutes since coming to the hospital. So much so that he was close to breaking his hand across some random person's jaw just for fun. Normally he wasn't such a violent person, but today his buttons were really being pushed in regard to the little girl he'd met earlier at the school.

He'd just spent the past ten minutes grilling the nurse taking him to have his hand X-Rayed and still he had no information. How difficult was it to say, "Oh yeah, she's here being taken care of?" Instead of making him think she was still out in the village somewhere dead in a ditch.

_Assholes the whole lot of them. _He thought as he looked all around to make sure that he wasn't missing anything. If he was right and she had been the kid hurt by the demon trap then there were three possible outcomes. 1) She was in surgery. 2) Her wounds had been minor but she was being kept for observation anyways. And 3) She was already dead and her body was downstairs.

Something that the teacher didn't even want to think about. The mere thought just filled him with dread.

Sighing, he tried again knowing that he probably wouldn't get anywhere, but dammit he had to try. "Could you please tell me anything about any young girls being admitted to the hospital with ax wounds?"

"I'm sorry Umino-san but you know that I cannot." The nurse said.

Iruka made a growling sound under his breath, "Not even if I told you that someone got hurt by a demon trap?" He tried again. The nurse paused and swung around to look at him for a moment, her face leeched of all color.

"Did you say a demon trap?"

Iruka nodded as the woman bit her lower lip for a moment and looked a bit ill as she said in a shakey tone, "But demon traps are against the law."

"Well apparently some moron in the village thinks the law doesn't apply to him."

"Is that what happened to your hand?" Iruka shrugged off her question. Deciding that if she wouldn't answer the one from earlier then she would get no information out of him. It was childish of him, sure. But he_ did_ have his reasons for acting like this.

After all...if it hadn't been for his chasing the girl away from the school- she might not have been hurt in the first place.

The woman was silent for a moment before sighing and hanging her head, damn he was good at guilt trips. Although it was against the rules to give out information, he seemed genuinely concerned for the kid that had come in with the Hokage- so maybe, just maybe if no one found out that she told- then everything would be okay.

"Alright. Earlier today- the Hokage came in carrying a little girl that fit the description you gave me earlier. She was suffering from sever head trauma and was unconsious. The Hokage was so upset that we had to fight him to get the girl away from him-" Iruka's expression remained blank for a moment before he asked,

"Is she dead?"

The nurse raised a hand to rub at one of her temples as she sighed again and replied honestly, "I don't know. Last I heard of her she was still in surgery."

"Where?"

"Just down the hall- behind you." The nurse answered as Iruka turned and glanced at hallway behind him from over one of his shoulders before turning his head back and saying,

"You better fix my hand fast. Because I'm going to go looking for her."


	9. Chapter 9

True to his word the moment the nurse was done resetting and wrapping his hand, Iruka went down the hall to the operating room that had been pointed out to him earlier and simply stood there watching through the small window wondering if the girl would pull through. And if she did, would she ever be the same again? Or had that demon trap ruined her in more ways than one?

"I should have buried a kunai in the bastard's eye..." He said to himself as he saw the girl's eye lashes flutter open for a moment then close again.

_Amazing- _He thought as he watched the doctors administer pain killers and a sedative to keep her from waking again. All that pain and those drugs and she was fighting. Maybe her wounds weren't as bad as he had been led to believe.

Then again head wounds were tricky.

A wound could seem fine one minute but the next it could cost someone their life.

So he wasn't exactly holding out hope that her wound was less serious than he'd been led to believe. He saw her eyes flicker open again and look right at him and felt his heart stutter in his chest for a moment.

Dear god, could she sense him? Is that why she was fighting to stay awake? He wondered as the doctors increased the seditives pumping through her blood in an effort to put her back under.

If this continued they would accidentally kill her from an overdose, so he reluctantly moved away from the window so that she couldn't see him but he could still see her- and watched as the drugs finally won out and lulled her back to merciful oblivion.

Sighing he stood there for several minutes before catching one of the nurses and asking if she could keep tabs on the girl for him since he would be back in a few hours to see if her condition had changed. His hand was hurting and he needed to grab a few things from home, plus shower and get some flowers and a get well card. The nurse assured him that she would do as he asked.

Iruka smiled and wrote down some of his information since it was required of all shinobi passing through to prove that they were a part of the village and not spys, then handed the paper and pen back to the nurse and told her he'd be back in an hour or so.

The nurse then placed a special jutsu on the paper hiding his information so that he would have to write everything down again to match the original and prove to her that he was who he was before she could let him anywhere near the girl once she was in recovery.

Once outside of the hospital Iruka ducked around the side of the building out of the way and slid down the stone wall with his head bowed, his breaths ragged. _Oh god- _Was he having a panic attack? Jesus Christ, he was, wasn't he? He could tell from the way his airway suddenly seemed to close off, the shaking in his limbs as he curled into himself as black spots danced in his line of vision.

He was having a damn panic attack! _Un-fucking-believable. _

_Why? Why had the girl- _He didn't understand. His mind didn't seem to be able to process why she had walked into the demon trap when she could have simply turned a blind eye to it like most children her age would have. Yet she hadn't. Why? To save some little brat she probably didn't know... His head shot up suddenly, the back of his skull banging into the side of the building making him hiss and pull back a bit as it occurred to him that the child he'd met earlier that day at the school had seemed more perceptive than most.

Deceptively so.

Could it be that she had known about the trap being in the alley the whole time and had merely walked into it in order to trip it? Lord knew that the Hokage would flip out if he knew that a bunch of fools had placed demon traps all over the village. Having a mere child get severely injured would generate enough of a buzz throughout the village to have the culprits arrested and the traps dismantled.

Taking a shallow breath or two to relieve the burning in his lungs he let out a small puff as his lips curved up slightly in a grim smile and muttered, "Oh you are a clever one, aren't you kitsune?" The second the word 'kitsune' left his lips he slapped his hand over his mouth as his eyes widened a bit in horror.

_Oh no_, how could he liken that poor girl that monster? What could have possibly brought that demon to mind enough for him to do such a thing? Sure the child was clever- or at least she had given the impression of being clever before her head had been struck with an ax. Still that didn't explain why his mind had more or less dubbed her 'kitsune'.

After all, kitsune's were cursed beings. They had been ever since the attack on the village and would probably remain so forever.


End file.
